In the field of radio communication hardware (often simply referred to as “radios”), there exists a wide variety of equipment configurations and operating environments. Radios may be hand held, man-portable, vehicle mounted, base station, or the like, and operating environments span the gamut from high-tempo tactical military operations to more mundane facilitation of communication between janitorial staff members. In the discussion that follows, particular reference will be made to military and law enforcement-centric scenarios. However, each of the problems and solutions encountered in the military and law enforcement environments will have analogous applicability in other fields as well.
Most hand held radios are capable of functioning without the use of external speakers, microphones, Push to Talk (PTT) switches, or the like. Traditionally, each of those elements is contained within the housing of the hand held radio, and no external components are required to operate the device. However, many manufacturers use a proprietary or standardized auxiliary port, having an auxiliary connector, to electrically couple brand specific or purpose specific hardware to the radio. This brand specific or purpose specific accessory may be referred to as an “OEM accessory.” For example, a stand-alone hand-held radio may use an auxiliary port to connect a wired microphone, speaker, and PTT package (often referred to as a “shoulder mic”). This allows the handheld radio to be stowed on the belt of the user, while placing the wired remote speaker, microphone, and PTT on the user's lapel or upper chest. While this provides a degree of added flexibility for the user, he is limited to using OEM accessories designated by the manufacturer (or devices from other manufactures that mate with OEM auxiliary connectors) for use with the radio and auxiliary port.
It is often desirable to use non-OEM accessories with the radio. For example, it may be useful to interface the radio with commercially available recording equipment by use of an XLR connector. Also, in covert environments, it may be desirable to monitor radio traffic by stowing the radio in a backpack and using generic headphones originally designed for use with portable mp3 players. The use of consumer electronic accessories may draw less attention than the use of military specific hardware.
Unfortunately, even if the connector of the non-traditional accessory is modified to interface with the auxiliary port, existing OEM accessories would be rendered inoperative (since the radio's auxiliary connector would be occupied by the modified non-traditional accessory). Moreover, the non-OEM accessory's functionally would be limited because it would no longer be suitable for its original use (e.g., converting a set of ear buds to interface with an auxiliary connector would render them unusable for use with an mp3 player).
In vehicle mounted or base station implementations, the user's microphone and PTT (and occasionally, the speaker), are located external to the radio housing. A table top microphone with PTT, a pendant similar to a shoulder mic, or a telephone handset style transceiver is connected to the radio chassis with a suitable connector. Therefore, in addition to the difficulties experienced when attempting to interface non-traditional devices to a hand held radio, in a vehicle mounted configuration the functionality of the radio is impaired unless a non-OEM accessory includes the same features as the OEM accessory it replaces. For example, connecting modified ear buds to the auxiliary port would enable a user to monitor traffic, but transmitting audio would be impossible in the absence of a microphone or PTT. Likewise, if a recording interface (XLR, RCA, etc.) is connected to the auxiliary port, the same functionality is lost. Therefore, there exists a need for improved connectivity between non-OEM accessories and radios.
A capability to record audio is often highly desirable, even though many radios (particularly hand held models) do not have a native means of enabling such recording. During high stress operations, an accurate account of all radio traffic may be invaluable for reconstructing timelines of events and for post-mission debriefing. While console mounted base station radios may offer the ability to record audio, many military forces may operate in ad-hoc radio networks that are too distant to make contact with a base station. Additionally, audio may be intelligible between team members on the ground, yet may be garbled by interference as audio reaches remotely located recording equipment. As a result, improved methods and apparatus for audio recording are required.
Another limitation of OEM radio accessories is encountered by light and agile forward operating units. Traditionally, each member of a team would be required to carry and operate his own radio. This adds additional equipment weight, as well as battery requirements, to each member of the team. In a hardwired accessory regime, an OEM shoulder mic (or hardwired voice activated kit) merely allows a user to relocate the weight and mass of his radio, not eliminate it. However, under most operating conditions, acceptable results would be achieved if a single radio was carried by a member of the team, and team members were able to interface headsets and other devices wirelessly with another team member's radio. Therefore, users would benefit from an improved apparatus and method for distributed utilization of communal radio resources.
Despite the current advances in radio communication technology, there remains a need for apparatus and methods of interfacing radios with non-OEM accessories, recording devices, and wireless devices.